�George Washington - American Revolution (mention of Brig. Gen. John Sullivan of New Hampshire. http://www.sar.org/nhssar/essays/Washingt.html On June 17 and on June 19 the Congress named four Major Generals (Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam); and thirteen Brigadiers, including among the latter John Sullivan of New Hampshire.9 These two ranks of Major General and Brigadier were the only general officer grades known during the Revolutionary War. Washington, of course, as General and Commander-in-Chief, held a unique position which, unlike the five-star rank of World War II, was never accorded to any other officer. The Attack On Fort William and Mary in 1774 Excerpts re: John Sullivan of Durham, NH (see website below for complete story) http://www.sar.org/nhssar/essays/FortW&M.html By the fifteenth of December, Portsmouth was crowded with men from nearby towns gathering into military ranks. A committee was chosen to speak to the Governor about the rumor that two regiments of British regulars were being dispatched to William and Mary. The Governor assured the committee that he knew of no such plans, but by this time upwards of a thousand New Hampshiremen, described by one writer of the time as men "of the best property and vote in the Province,"[8] had gathered in the seacoast community. The number of participants in this event is startling, considering that the usual population of Portsmouth at this time was probably only four to five thousand. John Sullivan (a delegate to the American Congress in Philadelphia and later a major general in the Continental Army and president of the revolutionary body governing New Hampshire), was apparently among the men who visited Governor Wentworth. Sullivan, perhaps in a purposeful display of duplicity, informed Wentworth that he had prevailed upon the crowd to return home, but by this time New Hampshire's largest and most cosmopolitan town had been transformed into a tense and heavily armed militia camp. � Later in the day, a committee of Americans approached the Governor to ask for a pardon of the men who had attacked the fort, or at least for an assurance that the perpetrators of the raid would not be prosecuted. Wentworth told the committee that "I could not promise them any such thing; but if they dispersed and restored the Gunpowder, which I earnestly exhorted them to do, I said I hoped His Majesty may be thereby induced to consider it an alleviation of the offence."[9] After this meeting, Wentworth was hopeful that the situation may come to an end without further violence and "expected that the gunpowder would have been restored by the morning."[9] His expectations were ill-founded. � In spite of the somewhat sympathetic language contained in his letters to Gage, Governor Wentworth did not shirk his duty as protector of the King's law in the Province. On December 15, the Governor issued an order to Captain John Dennet of the First New Hampshire Regiment of the Provincial Militia to enlist or impress into service "Thirty effective men to serve his Majesty as a Guard & Protection to his Fort William and Mary at New Castle . . ."[10] Captain Dennet took to the streets of Portsmouth and "caused the Drums to be Beat & Proclamation to be made at all Publick corners & on the Place of Parade."[11] The attempt to rally the loyal subjects of New Hampshire was a complete failure. Captain Dennet reported at six o'clock p.m. on December 15 that not a single person had responded to his plea for recruits and that he awaited further orders. � As Dennet waited, the Portsmouth committee again swung into action. A party of Durham men was rallied, under the command of John Sullivan and, according to a letter from an inhabitant of Boston, the "Parson of the Parish, who being long accustomed to apply himself more to the care of the bodies than the souls of his parishioners, had forgotten that the weapons of his warfare ought to be spiritual, and not carnal . . ." [12] Sullivan and the Durham men joined with a large number of citizens from nearby towns and, at midnight on the fifteenth of December, returned to Fort William and Mary. The men, probably numbering several hundred or more, again descended upon the fort on the night of December 15 "and took away sixteen pieces of cannon, about sixty muskets and other military stores, and brought them to the out Borders of the Town."[13] Although the attackers apparently made no attempt to occupy the garrison and allowed seventy heavy cannon to remain in the fort, the King's colors had previously been hauled from their staff and His Majesty's Fort William and Mary had effectively fallen to a band of loosely organized Americans. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SULLIVAN, John, 1740-1795 �Sullivan, John (1740-1795) Brother of James Sullivan* (see bio below) father of George Sullivan. Born in Somersworth, N.H., February 17, 1740. Delegate to Continental Congress from New Hampshire, 1774, 1780-1781; served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; New Hampshire state attorney general, 1782-1786; delegate to New Hampshire state constitutional convention, 1782-1783; President of New Hampshire, 1786-1788, 1789-1790; federal judge, 1789. Died January 23, 1795. Interment in private or family graveyard. (See also his congressional biography.) Source: http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sullivan.html Bibliography DAB; Sullivan, John. Letters and Papers of Major General John Sullivan, Continental Army. 3 vols. Edited by Otis G. Hammond. Concord, N.H.: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1930-39. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Sullivan, James (1744-1808) Brother of John Sullivan; uncle of George Sullivan. Born in Berwick, Maine, April 22, 1744. State court judge, 1776; Delegate to Continental Congress from Massachusetts, 1782-1783; Massachusetts state attorney general, 1790-1807; Governor of Massachusetts, 1807-1808. Died December 10, 1808. Interment at Central Boston Common Cemetery, Boston, Mass. (See also his congressional biography.) Grave of James Sullivan: Source: http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/SU.html Central Boston Common Cemetery Boston (Suffolk County), Massachusetts Politicians buried here: �James Sullivan (1744-1808) Brother of John Sullivan; uncle of George Sullivan. Born in Berwick, Maine, April 22, 1744. state court judge, 1776; Delegate to Continental Congress from Massachusetts, 1782-1783; Massachusetts state attorney general, 1790-1807; Governor of Massachusetts, 1807-1808. Died December 10, 1808. Interment at Central Boston Common Cemetery. (See also his congressional biography.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ �Sullivan, George (1771-1838) Son of John Sullivan; nephew of James Sullivan. Born in Durham, N.H., August 29, 1771. Member of New Hampshire state house of representatives, 1805, 1813; New Hampshire state attorney general, 1805-1806, 1815-1835; U.S. Representative from New Hampshire at-large, 1811-1813; member of New Hampshire state senate 2nd District, 1814-1816; Presidential Elector from New Hampshire, 1828. Died in Exeter, N.H., April 14, 1838. Interment at Old Cemetery, Exeter, N.H. (See also his congressional biography.) Old Cemetery Exeter (Rockingham County), New Hampshire �George Sullivan (1771-1838) Son of John Sullivan; nephew of James Sullivan. Born in Durham, N.H., August 29, 1771. Member of New Hampshire state house of representatives, 1805, 1813; New Hampshire state attorney general, 1805-1806, 1815-1835; U.S. Representative from New Hampshire at-large, 1811-1813; member of New Hampshire state senate 2nd District, 1814-1816; Presidential Elector from New Hampshire, 1828. Died in Exeter, N.H., April 14, 1838. Interment at Old Cemetery. (See also his congressional biography.) �Samuel Tenney (1748-1816) Born in Massachusetts. state court judge, 1793; U.S. Representative from New Hampshire, 1800-1807 (at-large 1800-1805, 4th District 1805-1807). Interment at Old Cemetery. (See also his congressional biography.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`` Source: Encyclopedia Britannica Sullivan, John b. , Feb. 17, 1740, Somersworth, N.H. d. Jan. 23, 1795, Durham, N.H., U.S.early U.S. political leader and Revolutionary War officer who won distinction for his defeat of the Iroquois Indians and their Loyalist allies in western New York (1779). An attorney, Sullivan was elected to the New Hampshire provincial congress (1774) and served at the First Continental Congress, in Philadelphia, the same year. In June 1775 he was appointed brigadier general in the Continental Army and aided in the siege of Boston. The following year he was ordered to Canada to command the retreating American troops after the death of their commander at the disastrous Battle of Quebec (Dec. 31, 1775). Sullivan shortly rejoined Gen. George Washington and, after being promoted to major general, participated in the Battle of Long Island (August 1776), where he was taken prisoner. Exchanged in December, he led the right column in Washington's successful attack on Trenton, N.J. (December 1776), but a night attack on Staten Island in August was unsuccessful. In 1779 Sullivan was commissioned to lead an expedition in retaliation for British-inspired Indian raids in the Mohawk Valley of New York. With 4,000 troops he routed the Iroquois and their Loyalist supporters at Newtown, N.Y. (near present Elmira), burning their villages and destroying their crops. He thus earned the thanks of Congress (October 1779), but ill health forced him to resign from military service soon afterward. Sullivan continued in public service for 15 years, however: as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780-81), state's attorney general (1782-86), New Hampshire governor (1786-87, 1789), presiding officer of the state convention that ratified the federal Constitution (1788), and U.S. district judge (1789-95). ____________________________________________________________________ �Compiled by Janice Farnsworth